Groomed a little 11 yr. old min schnauzer today that belonged to an elderly lady who is now in nursing home and her daughter is taking over the dog's care. Dog is very spry and a young 11. but her coat felt yucky. Washed it 2-3 times then gave up. Felt okay dry. When dog was picked up the woman said her mother had been spraying WD 40 on the dog! Also used it on herself for arthritis. Okay, it works for squeaky hinges, would that include squeaky knees, elbows, fingers, etc? LOL

WD40 dog is back and the daughter says her mother has her again, and yes, her coat is oily. Commented to her on all the oily, dirty, smelly yorkies I've done this past month and her reply was that "they all do it", meaning that most of the elderly people in the area put WD40 on their dogs and themselves. Has anyone else heard of this? Guess it would keep clipper blades lubricated, but feels terrible.

What's up with this?!? Is this sort of like using Avon's Skin So Soft as bug repellent? Where did these people come up with the idea of using WD40? WD40 is highly toxic! Here is exactly what it says on the can:

DANGER: Contains petroleum distillates. If swallowed, DO NOT induce vomiting. Call a physician. DO NOT breathe vapor or spray mist. Use in a ventilated area. Deliberate or direct inhalation may be harmful or fatal.

What are these people doing to themselves and their dogs? Stuff like this drives me absolutely crazy!!

Cross my weimariner's heart, this is a true story. About 20 years ago my husband used to sell products to hardware stores in Michigan. I was visiting one of his accounts when he was calling on them on a saturday. I asked to use the restroom and I had mentioned that I had a headache. The lady who owned the store told me to look in the medicine cabient and I would find some aspirin. When I saw a can of WD 40 in the cabinet with all the first aid stuff I thought it was funny. I came out and commented that only in a hardware store would you find WD 40 in a Medicine Cabinet. Both the lady and her husband told me they have been applying it to their knees, wrists, elbows, and especially their hands during the change of seasons. They had been using it for about 5 years. They said that they would have retired if someone hadn't told them about it for their poor old arthritic joints. I just read the labels of my husbands collection of remedies for his arthritis and I just might put the WD 40 in the Cabinet for him after reading the warnings on his stuff.LOL

I've heard all my life about using WD40 on aching joints for arthritis. I'm not agreeing or disagreeing that there's anything to the claims. Just saying that I've heard about it my entire life and had plenty of elderly relatives who used to do it.

ever wonder why Avon hasn't really marketed Skin So Soft as a flea deterent? Tell you this that when I was researching some of the products that do I was told that the standards require testing and that Avon like other companies tdo test their products and if it did fall in the guidlines for saftey they would join that malti billion dollar market now. the truth is that they can not assure that outcome of the product being ingested as dgos and cats do lick their skin, People don't usually do it enough to ingest enough to harm them selves. That is why it is only just made as a hint that if you do it might work but we are not suggesting it is made for that. Be aware that standards are there for a reason by the FDA. But then the WD40 crowd is just plain weird. I know that if I invented something that would kill bugs I would be a gazilliniar over night. Darn, does someone have a patent on a rolled up newspaper yet?

Ohhh I don't use it for fleas - -- just 'squitos and black flies...... and my Dalmatian hardly ever licks himself - honest! <chuckle> We do a lot of flyball tournaments where we're camping out in fiar fields, boon docks, etc.. Tons of bugs in some areas. That's when I use it. This year alone on our team's flyball schedule is over 30 events - between demos & tournaments.....

Rpg, all I meant by referring to Skin So Soft is that these people are under the impression that a product like WD40 can be used for something else (like treating arthritis) than it was originally intended for, and I wonder how this starts/happens. Sort of like an "urban myth" if you know what I mean. I just wonder who was the first person who said to themselves "Hmmm. I think I'll spray this WD40 all over myself and my dog". It's just plain nuts IMO! My family uses Skin So Soft as bug spray and I have no knowledge/information that it is toxic to people or animals. Of course, I try to stay away from bug sprays and Skin So Soft myself, but that's just me and my aversion to any chemicals. I prefer to use natural products whenever I can and Best Shot has just come out with a bug spray for dogs that is completely natural. I bought a bottle to try. DH and I are going on vacation soon and I plan on trying the bug spray on myself too. Anyway, I don't think there's anything wrong with using Skin So Soft as bug spray; I was just using it as an example.

Tsmmes, glad to hear that you use the Best Shot bug spray so I will give it a try; thanks.

Dawg, I would give it a try on Pilgrim. It says that it can be used on dogs, horses, and cats, but I wouldn't use it on cats because one of the ingredients is pine oil. I've been using it on my dog Jake, and he is highly allergic and overreactive to everything (can't even wear a flea collar without panting, foaming, pacing, etc.) and so far so good. I started out w/ spraying it on his tail only to get him used to it and now I'm spraying it on his back legs too before we go for a walk. One of the ingredients is tea tree oil which he reacts badly to, so I was concerned, but he seems to be tolerating the bug spray pretty well so far.